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Seventeen Years of Tetris
thefalconer writes "It all happened 17 years ago on a whim and an addiction of sorts. Alexey Pazhitnov created the one game that has caused so many people around the world to just about go nuts trying to win a game that has the ability to slowly drive you to insanity one small misshappen block at a time. Since the creation of the original Tetris game on an Electronica 60, there have been dozens of different incarnations of Tetris that have dazzled the eyes, boggled the mind, frustrated the emotions, and fried more than their fair share of braincells. There is also a very interesting history of tetris online that details its evolution from innocent game to insane addiction. Plus it's one of those games that never grows old. :D"
... I feel obliged to mention the best form of Tetris, IMHO, Tetrinet/Fast. This is a multiplayer form of tetris with specials (Add lines to opponents, clear lines on yourself, etc) and Tetrifast (Changed exe), removes the line delay between drops. Truely an addictive game to play with friends. You can grab the stuff @ http://www.tetrinet.org
If I wasn't so lazy, I'd have a sig.
Enjoy.
"The best argument against democracy is a five minute chat with the average voter."
--Winston Churchill
For all you tetris people out there, check out TetriNET. It's tetris on the Internet! It has special attack blocks that you can obtain by clearing lines. It also has a pure mode for all you old school people out there. =) Pretty dang addicting.
Check this one out if you end up with a Dreamcast some day.
"Doom Music" is superb - I bought a copy for myself and a friend a few years ago. Easily worth the $15 or so it cost - plus I got a nice personal letter from the Man himself when he shipped my order.
If you want a nice selection of Bobby Prince tracks, including some from that album you can go here.
--- Hot Shot City is particularly good.
The name of the song is Korobeiniki. This I know only because the band Ozma (who have a thing for all that is Russian) did a version of that classic folk tune (available here at mp3.com)
:)
And yeah, they are the same guys who did the Natalie Portman song too for any who remember that
We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
Dunno if everyone has seen this yet, but this footage from Japan is simply amazing. I can't beleive the human mind can play tetris at such a rate. =P
m l
http://www.fileplanet.com/files/80000/89344.sht
working at Microsoft (ugh i know) as a Game Designer in the mid 90's, i had the pleasure of working with Alexey.
;)
at the time, he was a jovial guy, despite the sorted legal histories, with a thick Russian accent and loud, boisterous laugh.
i was tasked with designing a game that would popularize Windows as a gaming platform (a concern at the time, Win95 was just released) and was thinking about different ways to achieve this. i asked myself about why certain other games were hugely popular, and of course Tetris was on the list. i'd deemed the reason to be that in Tetris, the player does something that they do nearly every second of their waking life; recognizing and sorting information.
not long after, a new hire was announced in a separate games division. he was really the only other Game Designer at MS at the time, so naturally i sought a rapport; it was Alexey afterall!. we chatted about various things, men of similar ilk (on paper anyway), when one day, i just flat out asked him...
"Alexey, why do you think Tetris is so popular?"
he thought about it for a moment, me in silent anticipation realizing the absurdity of the situation; i'm once again talking with the designer of arguably the world's most popular game, when he finaly answered in his Russian-lined English accent...
"You know Joe, I think it's because it is...something that people do everyday."
i've been an even bigger fan of Alexey ever since
http://www.chroniclogic.com released Triptych this spring. It has some of the features you've always missed the most in the original, namely the ability to smack that blocking piece away and to squeeze a piece in between two others. This game is actually a physical 2D simulation of slightly bouncy blocks being jammed into a limited space.
They had to change the rules a bit to accomodate the more... ermm... physical nature of this game, but it's still near enough that I'd nominate it for Tetris clone of the year.
Have fun! I've had a lot!